May 16, 1874. The day that changed the history of Williamsburg. That morning, the destructive, burgeoning water coursing down the Mill River, from the failed earthen reservoir dam, three miles above Williamsburg on the East Branch of the Mill River, devastated the factory villages of Williamsburg, Skinnerville, Haydenville and Leeds. That catastrophic failure of the dam took 139 lives in the villages. It would have caused more damage and loss of life if it wasn’t for the heroic efforts of George Cheney, Collins Graves, Myron Day, Jerome Hillman, Robert Loud and Jimmy Ryan to forewarn their neighbors and businesses of the danger—and the innumerable anonymous acts of courage and caring by the ordinary people of the towns doing extraordinary things to save their children, their families, their friends, their neighbors and their coworkers.
Today, May 16, 2024, we remember the people and the towns that still bear the marks of this calamity. At 12:10 a cascade of bells from Williamsburg to Northampton will ring a total of 139 times, once for each victim of the flood. At 7 p.m. Historian Eric Weber will give an illustrated talk about the flood, drawing on his years of research in archival photographic collections, including the stereographs in the Meekins Local History collection.
At the time, the devastation drew gawkers and professional photographers who took hundreds of photographs of the ruined villages in the following days. The Meekins Library holds a large collection of stereograph cards which chiefly document the aftermath of the flood. It includes a few views of Williamsburg before the flood. The bulk of the collection consists of images taken by Knowlton Bros.; the other photographers represented are: A.E and A.J. Alden, Devine and Knox, J.A. French, Geo. H. Ireland & Co., and C. Seaver.
There are at least 84 different views, all mounted on heavy cards for use in handheld stereo viewers. Stereographs are two almost identical pictures, mounted side by side, that when viewed through a stereoscope form a single three-dimensional image. In the 1870s, stereographs were a popular form for bringing photograph images to a broad audience.
The Meekins Flood Stereograph Collection has been digitized and is accessible online. You can explore the collection on the Digital Commonwealth.
Up-to-the-minute information and locations for the May 18th commemoration and George Cheney’s ride reenactment and all the events of May can be found at the web sites of both the Meekins Library and Historic Northampton. Join the community at 7 p.m. on May 16, 2024, in the Social Hall of the First Congregational Church of Williamsburg, to hear Eric Weber’s flood presentation. Let us remember the people of our towns. Daria D’Arienzo, Archivist. #throwbackthursday; #tbt
Posted to Facebook 5/16/2024